34a. Three Views of the First T. rex Mount, 1916

These three photographs of the newly completed Tyrannosaurus mount at the American Museum of Natural History were taken in 1915 by Abram Anderson. Dinosaur photographers do not seem to have received the attention of dinosaur artists such as Charles Knight, but Anderson certainly made his mark. In addition to these classic photographs he also took the famous photograph of the Trachodon mummy that was first published by Osborn in 1912 and then by Sternberg in 1917. And he also has to his credit a beautiful photograph of the skull of T. rex that was found by Barnum Brown in 1908.

The text to the article accompanying this plate explains that the photographs were retouched, removing all traces of the heavy iron framework that supported the skeleton. It is left unsaid whether Anderson did this retouching, or whether he even approved of it.

Source

Osborn, Henry Fairfield. "Skeletal adaptations of Ornitholestes, Struthiomimus, Tyrannosaurus," in: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 35 (1916), pp. 733-771. This work was on display in the original exhibition as item 34.